Curse

TheDarkshineKnight · Oct 15, 2008, 04:12 PM // 16:12

Other than seeing people talking about Terra Tanks, I can't really say I've heard anything about the Elementalist's role in a typical Hard Mode group. I realize Elementalist is more of a utility role, but, I can't say I've heard of any builds that fulfill that role specifically for Hard Mode. I mean, they can't really deal damage, so Fire's out of the question. That leaves Water for snares, Air for condition spam, and Earth for wards, doesn't it? Anyhoo, I would greatly appreciate it if someone could enlighten me with regards to this topic.

zelgadissan · Oct 15, 2008, 04:17 PM // 16:17

For me HM means Earth and Air. Earth gives you good defenses with stuff like Ward Against Melee, and you get great HM specialty skills like Churning Earth. Air gives you melee shutdown in Blinding Flash/Blinding Surge, and melees are almost always the hardest part of a HM area, exceptions being maybe a monk or rit boss being in a seemingly unkillable group.

Molock · Oct 15, 2008, 04:24 PM // 16:24

Damage mitigation and utility. For example, since energy storage at 13 is very useless, put points into a secondary attribute, curses for example. On my elementalist I use earth magic for wards and Unsteady Ground because that skill is awesome. I spec into curses for Enfeebling Blood (great synergy with earth magic) and perhaps some enchantment strips. I usually carry a PvE skill or two, Pain inverter for those pesky elementalist or dervish bosses. You can also carry wards which help greatly.

In some HM areas fire can still be used, Mind blast utility builds come to mind. Air magic is nice but it usually comes down to blinding foes non stop while using splinter weapon on your melee, it can get boring. I prefer earth magic.

I'm sure others will post more helpful information but that was my experience with my elementalist in HM.

furanshisuko · Oct 15, 2008, 04:30 PM // 16:30

i run a E/D build fire and works just fine you dont rly need too much defese if your offence is better, so this is the build i think

1savanah heat(E)
2dragons breath
3Imolate
4glyph of insta cast (what ever the name is)
5meteor shower
6flame djjin haste
7mystic regen
8fire attune

if you have sab's triple necro build it works the best for VQing you make a kinda crazy spike whit this i used this for AB too ^^ and works very nice

DarkNecrid · Oct 15, 2008, 04:34 PM // 16:34

Damage mitigation and utility, anyone trying to outright nuke (even Mind Blast is just used for some light pressure and to use your utility abilities) is being retarded so don't do it.

I Will Heal You Ally · Oct 15, 2008, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Today eles rely on pve skills... here are some tipical builds for HM (FIRE):
1. Mind Blast, Finish Him!, Rodgort's Invocation, Technobubble, Pain Inverter, Fireball, Liquid Flame
2. AP nuker - currently I use one for my Discord Necro Team with mark of Rodgort and Sac+MS.

kess · Oct 15, 2008, 05:14 PM // 17:14

I know it's frustrating for ele in Hm, seem like everybody has 200AR against elemental damage. So the solution is to go armor ignoring damage like burning.

If you vanquishing an area and cons (essense of celerity) is available use this
max on energy storage

1. illusion of weakness
2. aura of restoration
3. ether renewal [E]
4. conjure nightmare
5. arcane echo
6. cry of pain
7. optional slot ["finish him" for end spike due to deep wound]
8. optional slot ["you moved like dwarf" for knockdown"]

you can even do full survivor armor or +ar, -5(20) set.
with this, you will never have energy problem and keep spamming away.

without cons, then you need to put in glyph of swifness and mindbender on and have air magic at 4 (for renewal and mindbender)

counter is enchantment removal and hex removal (not much a concern if you have a hex heavy team).

Gift3d · Oct 15, 2008, 05:25 PM // 17:25

This is what i like to run...

Earth Attunement
Churning Earth
Unsteady Ground
Air of Superiority
Ebon Hawk
Glowstone
Ward against Melee -or- Elements
Flesh of my Flesh

Churning is just great cause it knocks down any monster in HM since they all move faster than normal.
Unsteady is basically 6 seconds of uselessness for a group of attacking melee monsters
Ward against melee/elements depending on what area you're in
And air of superiority to hope you get the bonus where all your skills are recharged. In the case it doesn't, that's what ebon hawk/glowstone is for, semi-spammable minimal damage/weakness/energy

wind fire and ice · Oct 15, 2008, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Ele role in HM is utility.
Guessing ele is your main and you dont mind maxing some titles for effectiveness heres a build:
Earth Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Arcane Echo(for unsteady-2x melee shutdown>weakness from enfeebling blood imo,just bring a necro with that if you want)
Unsteady Ground
Churning Earth
Pain Inverter(r8+ pref)
Ebon Standard of Honor(r6+ pref)
Finish Him!(r5+ pref,any works for this though.)

Use a 40/40 set or a basic 40/20/20% enc staff.

Enjoy.

Shayne Hawke · Oct 15, 2008, 05:29 PM // 17:29

Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaare.

Since AoE is pretty much a joke, you're left with hindering their combat abilities in one way or another with Water snares, or various conditions applied through Earth or Air. Since Thunderclap now inflicts Dazed, that might be an interesting option.

wind fire and ice · Oct 15, 2008, 05:38 PM // 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shayne Hawke

Since Thunderclap now inflicts Dazed, that might be an interesting option.

IMO your better going with Bsurge and just using Technobabble for HM if you want daze.

In the end though,earth/water > air for HM.

Mouse at Large · Oct 15, 2008, 06:46 PM // 18:46

Do not simply ignore burning. MB+Mark of Rodgot + heats works well in a Sab's setup where the minions tend to bunch up foes. I've vanquished all areas inc EotN and only in a few limited instances have I had to depart from this setup

P.S. Pain Inverter just hammers AoE HM bosses, especially when they have minions near them

Molock · Oct 15, 2008, 10:14 PM // 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mouse at Large

Do not simply ignore burning. MB+Mark of Rodgot + heats works well in a Sab's setup where the minions tend to bunch up foes. I've vanquished all areas inc EotN and only in a few limited instances have I had to depart from this setup

Ok dude, but burning does 14 damage per second.. its not very useful to be honest. You might as well spec into earth and protect your teammates that can do damage to the high hp and high armor foes.

Tyla · Oct 15, 2008, 10:16 PM // 22:16

Earth Elementalists used for damage mitigation and utility.
Ether Renewal Elementalists used for CoP'ing everything when they get the needed hex.
Ether Renewal Elementalists can Monk too.

That's really about it. Elementalists' damage is just incredibly low in HM.

@Mouse at Large;

Degeneration is weak in PvE, and if I really wanted it I'd rather have someone pressing SF over and over.

Sage Tylos · Oct 16, 2008, 02:45 AM // 02:45

Nuking can still be done, depending on where you are, but many enemies just have too much armor and HP for it to be worth while. When I was getting tyrian vanquisher and guardian I ran nuking where it was still good enough to be useful, and ran shutdown where the enemies just had too damn much HP and armor.

The two builds I used: (I only have Prophecies and EotN so don't tell me I should've used such and such factions or NF skill)

Nuking:
Fire Magic 12 + 1 + (1, 2, or 3)
Energy Storage 12 + 1
-----------
Ether Renewal [Elite]
Fire Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Arcane Echo
Rodgort's Invocation
Fireball
Searing Heat
Firestorm

A fitting all proph skills nuke build for hiting proph with. Sitting on your 40/40 set and echo spamming rodgort's with all three enchants up means good damage in most cases, (though again, in some places enemies have too much armor) and also means powerful self heals. Regaining 145 HP each time you cast rodgort's means the monks don't have to save you as often.

Shutdown: For the places where nuking just doesn't deal worthwhile damage.
Air Magic 12 + 1 + (1, 2, or 3)
Energy Storage 12 + 1
----------
Air Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Thunderclap [Elite]
Blinding Flash
Enervating Charge
Epidemic
"You Move Like a Dwarf!" [PvE]
"Finish Him!" [PvE]

Your job is to, yeah you guessed it, spread conditions all over the place. Daze the casters. Blind, weaken, and cripple the attackers. Spread it around as much as you can with Epidemic. I love it when a mob is really bunched up and one target goes below 50% HP. Hit "Finish Him!" followed by Epidemic to put cracked armor and deep wound on the whole mob.

Mr Emu · Oct 16, 2008, 02:59 AM // 02:59

im a big fan of the AP Earth Nuker

AP
YMLaD (use with AP for discord)
Ward Melee (cuz you can have like 5 copies up at a time)
Churning (KD shit)
Eruption (Blind shit)
Optional x3 (note 2 pve slots)

Mouse at Large · Oct 16, 2008, 07:25 AM // 07:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molock

Ok dude, but burning does 14 damage per second.. its not very useful to be honest. You might as well spec into earth and protect your teammates that can do damage to the high hp and high armor foes.

Fair enough, but the way I've been looking at it is not by comparing apples with oranges. Sure burning does 14 DPS, but that is to multiple foes as is the fire damage on top. Therefore, when the direct single target DPS dealers get to then, it's less work to put them down.

Just a thought

Bobby2 · Oct 16, 2008, 10:54 AM // 10:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind fire and ice

In the end though,earth/water > air for HM.

This.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Emu

AP
YMLaD (use with AP for discord)
Ward Melee (cuz you can have like 5 copies up at a time)
Churning (KD shit)
Eruption (Blind shit)
Optional x3 (note 2 pve slots)

This.

AP all the way for mass Ward/Maelstrom 'spam'.

Also: Deep Freeze, Blurred Vision... "Finish Him!"

PS Degen is meh at best.

Chthon · Oct 17, 2008, 01:42 AM // 01:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Emu

im a big fan of the AP Earth Nuker

AP
YMLaD (use with AP for discord)
Ward Melee (cuz you can have like 5 copies up at a time)
Churning (KD shit)
Eruption (Blind shit)
Optional x3 (note 2 pve slots)

I'm wondering how on earth you can afford the energy load on that bar.

tuna-fish_sushi · Oct 17, 2008, 04:41 PM // 16:41

AP gives 15+ energy per kill also you can throw in earth attune/glyph of lesser energy. AP+YMLaD+Discord+finish him ftw, they can't hurt you if they are KD+crippled+dead.